UPDATE: video demo - Big news: Latos Drums!

[AaronLatos]

They look nice....look forward to video and more pics. Curious about the throw, too......

Video soon, very soon.

Throw has been through about a million revisions, want to make it timeless. As a little teaser, I WILL say...

it's a rock solid new take on a vertical pull, mechanically simple but very adjustable, and has a matching butt plate with useful features. And, of course, matches the rest of the hardware.

 

[AaronLatos]

I'm really looking forward to seeing/hearing more about your drums. I love the design and it's cool seeing that you are doing this all solo. I'd be happy to support an upstate NY business (but how upstate is Newburgh really?...just kidding).

Ha! Yeah, we're Hudson Valley and proud of it. We're upstate enough to have trees, apples, be an afternoon's drive to Montreal, but if you're a "real" upstater... yeah, I can still do occasional morning sessions in Manhattan, so I only get partial membership.

 

[shuffle]

Much success!
Sounds great in the vid!

 

[CC Cirillo]

Firstly, congratulations on the new addition to your family!

The drum design is beautiful and nickel silver as material is intriguing.

 

[Saladdaze]

@AaronLatos this is awesome news! Congrats on getting your venture off the ground. The painstaking planning and adherence to your mission will pay off. Can’t wait to see where you take this...

...and here’s a vote for naming one of these models after that beautiful new life in your life! You are livin’ right! Go get it.

 

[mikeylicious78]

Wow...beautiful drums! Congratulations!

 

[pedro navahas]

How are you connecting the edges?
Nice work!

 

[DanRH]

Those are friggen beautiful. Looking forward to hearing and seeing more. Huge congrats Aaron.

 

[varatrodder]

This is amazing! Love it!

 

[Cauldronics]

The drum design is beautiful and nickel silver as material is intriguing.

Yup, I'd really like to hear what nickel silver sounds like.

 

[Dumpy]

As long as you’re not drilling into a weld, it’s going to be fantastic!*

* with as much care as I see in these pix, it is likely not a worry.

 

[phdamage]

cool! as someone who grew up in Washingtonville/Monroe in the 80s/90s when it was basically a cultural wasteland and literally never goes back there, i'm excited to see something cool coming out of there.

excited to hear one of these in person

 

[AaronLatos]

Yup, I'd really like to hear what nickel silver sounds like.

Sound demos coming soon for sure!

It's half the alloy, and half what you do with it. The goal for me was to make a drum that doesn't have any "weak spots" in the tuning range, but still has maximum grit and character, and the alloy works nicely for that. Having read what you like on here, think you'll be pleased.

 

[AaronLatos]

cool! as someone who grew up in Washingtonville/Monroe in the 80s/90s when it was basically a cultural wasteland and literally never goes back there, i'm excited to see something cool coming out of there.

excited to hear one of these in person

There's a serious, serious revival happening in the Hudson Valley right now, and it's real energizing to be a little part of it.

Newburgh in particular is pretty amazing. While there have definitely been some wonderful long-term holdout residents and businesses, there's also been a notable influx of people from NYC as that's gotten increasingly unaffordable. So all of a sudden, you have all these craftspeople, metal sculptors, musicians, who'd previously spent decades making things work in cramped NY/BK spaces... buying 3 story buildings and ripping the center of the floor out of stories 2 and 3 to make a catwalk so they can do 35ft tall sculptures, for example. COVID has been a kick in the pants for a city with an incredible gallery and party scene, but I think it'll rebound.

A couple of my neighbors spent the 70s/80s in the lower east side, and feel like there's a similar vibe up here now. About half of the city consists of brownstone-ish town houses built 1890-1920. We're starting to run "low" on old commercial spaces so prices are going up, but you can still figure it out.

Yeah, it has a reputation from a few years back of being rough, but things are way different, and a lot of those old stories are steeped in straight up racism and skewed statistics from when there was economic incentive to keep NB "down."

Attached is the photo of the old factory I'm in. Not all my space, by a long shot (owned by a high end neo-mid century shelving/furniture company, other tenants include aforementioned sculptors, metal shops, painters, a visual artist with works in the met and gugenhiem, industrial designers, and even a name indie band's project studio), but I'm renting a great spot here for the time, until I figure out exactly how much space I need for this whole operation long term.

 

[jptrickster]

I'd like a 6 1/2. Put me on the list please.

 

[Cauldronics]

Can we get a ballpark idea of pricing?

 

[KevinD]

I grew up about 35 mins west of Newburgh (over Rt 52). Spent a decent amount of time there while growing up, playing ball, some games were at Delano Hitch stadium... that was not for the faint hearted back then. Newburgh also had a big Honda/Kawasaki dealer I used to go go. The riverfront is a nice area.
Have a couple of friends who still live over that way. Pre-Covd there used to be some good places to gig over there... Happy to see it is slowly coming back.

My dad still has the house up there so I get up there as much as I can. Had a few years of some steady gigs there too.

I would agree, the Hudson Valley is on an upswing as far as music and arts are concerned. A lot of great musicians live there, or at least have 2nd homes up there.. The Falcon in Marlboro is a cool place, Rosendale, Kingston, New Paltz, Saugerties and Hudson (of course Woodstock has always been a hub) and back in the other direction over towards Bethel.. lots of places with great potential.

Good luck with your endeavors, looks very promising, maybe we'll run into each other up there some day.

 

[bassanddrum84]

Gorgeous

 

[Frank Godiva]

Gonna sound great with some rosewood Lites

 

[AaronLatos]

Video demo: 6.5x14" at 5 tunings from super low to cranked. Coated Ambassador batter, no muffling: wanted to show what happens when you pull it out of the box and grab a drum key.